Ankou
Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Shutterbugs' Best
My advice? Stop seeking advice from this breeder.
It makes me so sad, but she has no clue what she is talking about. Sounds like she's in it for the money, and is telling people what they want to hear and has a lot of misinformation.
Maybe I shouldn't assume, but I just did.
Especially if you think this person swindled you on the birds age, they've already proven they cannot be trusted and they are giving you downright bad advice on bonding.
The first bit of advice you got is something called "flooding." It doesn't teach a bird to trust, it teaches them to surrender helplessly to a situation, give up, but causes fear and distrust. Judging from your own posts, you figured this out on your own. It's just not the way to go about taming and creating trust, trust takes patience and time and there is no fast track.
Except for a few very special cases, birds who bond instantly, there is no quick way to tame a fearful bird.
Dominance, in birds (and in my opinion, animals like dogs too) is complete and utter bull. There is no alpha. There is no getting him to submit and suddenly be tame by forcing him onto his back.
I can't imagine why this person's birds are terrified of hands. *blatant sarcasm*
Has Orca been to see a vet yet? While it can be very hard to tell a bird's age they can at least ballpark it and can usually tell you how old a bird isn't.
I don't know much about eye ring species, but I know some peach faced mutations do not have black on their beak as babies. Maybe he naturally doesn't have that trait, maybe he really is older, but that's something you could look into? Or did you already? I guess I could too.
6 months is still a baby, and even elder birds can learn to love and trust us with time. You absolutely can make this work, even if you were lied to.
Just remember love, trust, patience, and respect.
Edit:
Oh yeah, and for target training, if you can't get him interesting in a target try this:
Find (or make!) unsalted/bird safe peanut/almond butter, or some other sticky, tasty, thing, and at first, try sticking some millet to the target. Yams and mashed banana might work as a sticky thing.
If that won't get him interested in it, I don't know what will!
Once he associates the target with a treat, remove the treat from it and provide them on your own, with training incorporated.
Edit 2:
Gosh, this post is getting long. Sorry about that.
I've been googling black masked babies in various mutations and they don't seem to get black on their beaks as babies. I think it's possibly just a PFLB thing?
So that may not be a good gauge of his age.
It makes me so sad, but she has no clue what she is talking about. Sounds like she's in it for the money, and is telling people what they want to hear and has a lot of misinformation.
Maybe I shouldn't assume, but I just did.
Especially if you think this person swindled you on the birds age, they've already proven they cannot be trusted and they are giving you downright bad advice on bonding.
The first bit of advice you got is something called "flooding." It doesn't teach a bird to trust, it teaches them to surrender helplessly to a situation, give up, but causes fear and distrust. Judging from your own posts, you figured this out on your own. It's just not the way to go about taming and creating trust, trust takes patience and time and there is no fast track.
Except for a few very special cases, birds who bond instantly, there is no quick way to tame a fearful bird.
Dominance, in birds (and in my opinion, animals like dogs too) is complete and utter bull. There is no alpha. There is no getting him to submit and suddenly be tame by forcing him onto his back.
I can't imagine why this person's birds are terrified of hands. *blatant sarcasm*
Has Orca been to see a vet yet? While it can be very hard to tell a bird's age they can at least ballpark it and can usually tell you how old a bird isn't.
I don't know much about eye ring species, but I know some peach faced mutations do not have black on their beak as babies. Maybe he naturally doesn't have that trait, maybe he really is older, but that's something you could look into? Or did you already? I guess I could too.
6 months is still a baby, and even elder birds can learn to love and trust us with time. You absolutely can make this work, even if you were lied to.
Just remember love, trust, patience, and respect.
Edit:
Oh yeah, and for target training, if you can't get him interesting in a target try this:
Find (or make!) unsalted/bird safe peanut/almond butter, or some other sticky, tasty, thing, and at first, try sticking some millet to the target. Yams and mashed banana might work as a sticky thing.
If that won't get him interested in it, I don't know what will!
Once he associates the target with a treat, remove the treat from it and provide them on your own, with training incorporated.
Edit 2:
Gosh, this post is getting long. Sorry about that.
I've been googling black masked babies in various mutations and they don't seem to get black on their beaks as babies. I think it's possibly just a PFLB thing?
So that may not be a good gauge of his age.
Last edited:
But I'm sure that in time he will come around. Sorry that the breeder lied to you- that sucks. It sounds like she may just be more interested in selling the birds and making money rather than being honest and making sure that potential owner gets a feel for what they will be working with. How is Orca around Ollie and Pico?
